Thursday, January 13, 2011

Friends are extremely important. In fact, your friends and relationships will determine the direction and quality of your life. Connecting with the right friends and making wise choices in your relationships is crucial.

The Bible speaks a lot about the importance of connecting with the right friends.

Check out Mark 2: 1-5 (NLT)…

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

Let’s focus on the phrase “dug a hole through the roof”. Other translations say “made an opening”, “removed part of the roof”, and “uncovered the roof”.

It’s very easy to pass over this simple phrase. We often think the roof was some ancient, primitive, thatch roof. But that was not the case.

If you study 1st Century architecture, you will find that this specific roof was more than likely a mud clay (a lot like cement) roof with tiles. To lower the paralyzed man through the roof, they literally had to do major construction and demolition to the roof.

Can you imagine this picture? You’re in this packed house – wall to wall people – trying to listen to Jesus. All of a sudden you start to hear some banging on the roof. Then the roof begins to fall in on you. These friends literally tore the tiles off the roof, tore a hole in the roof, and lowered the paralyzed man by a rope into the house.

Imagine the people’s responses. I’d guess anger because they are there to listen to Jesus. They earned their spot. They got there early. He could have been in the middle of a life-changing sermon and they missed part of it because of the whole roof being torn open situation. What about that person who owned the house? That’s not a quick fix. That’s not a minor, cosmetic problem. That’s a huge hole in your roof.

Now look at Jesus’ response. “Seeing their faith…” Did you get that? The Bible does not say “seeing his faith”. No, the Bible says “seeing their faith”. Jesus didn’t rebuke them and say “Don’t you know how much a roof costs?” He didn’t say “Have you ever heard of a door?” No, he saw their faith and their lives were never the same.

Here’s the truth: the paralyzed man would have never gotten to Jesus or been healed without his friends.

DO YOU HAVE FRIENDS IN YOUR LIFE WHO WOULD TEAR OFF A ROOF FOR YOU?

From Week 2 of the REVOLUTION series CONNECT 4 entitled “Connecting with the Right Friends”.